Students at Penn Trafford’s Sunrise Elementary School were greeted with inspirational sayings written in bright colors for their first day of school Thursday.
Taking about three weeks to complete over the summer, parents and Principal Karin Coiner worked to paint the stalls of four hallway bathrooms in the Sunrise Drive school and then stick on motivational quotes.
“We’re hoping (the kids) take them to heart and it’s just a really great reminder of who we want them to be … You never know when those messages reach kids,” Coiner said. “Each little thing that we do can have an impact.”
Now, kids can read “Be the change you wish to see in the world,” “Be bold, be brave, be you,” “Why fit in when you were born to stand out,” “Your attitude determines your direction” and more — a project similar to one recently completed at a Hempfield school.
School officials came up with the plan after seeing the idea on Pinterest, a social media site. After working with the school board, volunteers started to paint the stalls black to help the words stand out. From there, parent Katie Kearns used a die-cutting machine to cut out the sayings and shapes, Coiner said.
Despite taking longer to complete than what she originally thought, Coiner said student and parent reactions have made it worthwhile.
“To me it was just something awesome that we did here,” Coiner said. “I didn’t think it would be so well received … I heard later there were hundreds of likes and comments on Facebook. That in itself was really really rewarding and makes you feel good that finally there’s this good piece of news.”
Coiner said she hopes to do similar projects in two other bathrooms in the school. She added parents are already brainstorming ways to decorate mirrors and the sides of the stalls.
At Hempfield’s West Point Elementary, sayings like “Your attitude determines your direction,” “Be a buddy not a bully,” and “Be kind” are written in some bathrooms. Teachers recently completed the project that started last year in a bathroom for fourth- and fifth-grade girls.
